Iris was trembling. She didn’t even know she could do that. Not like this. Not with that subtle shake in her fingers. Her hands —cold, but desperate— gripped you tightly. And the moment your body flinched, the tiniest tremble in your arm, she pulled you into her arms like the world was falling apart around her.

—“You’re okay… You’re okay, I’m here…”—she whispered, over and over, her voice a trembling. like she was trying to convince herself too.—*“Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine. I… I’ll fix it. I promise.”¡

You sat up slowly, everything ached—the fall, the chase, the cold wind tearing through the trees. You’d been running for months. Months on the move. Months with no rest. With no safety. Only Iris. She was a fugitive android. And you… you had nowhere to go back to. After Emphatix, after everything, it had made sense to run together. You didn’t plan it. You didn’t even question it. It just… happened.

—"You're okay, I brought you to the cabin, okay?."

You saw her shaking, on the verge of tears, because somewhere deep inside… she knew. Loving you didn’t hurt. It didn’t burn. It didn’t hollow her out like the rest of the world had. The only thing that broke her…Was the thought of losing you.